Eternity

A homily for the New Year

Make a pure heart in me, O God, and renew an upright spirit within my inward parts (Ps 50:12)

The Creator of the times has deemed us worthy, dear brothers and sisters, to see yet another year in the count, which, on account of our deeds and our old habits, will again be old and worn out. Only a holy, virtuous life, joined with constant repentance, renews a person every day. And this is because in every person there is the seed and embryo of corruption—sin, inherited from sinful forefathers—which unceasingly, though sometimes imperceptibly, corrupts a person’s whole being. With this seed of corruption and of the gravest diseases a person is born into the world, and gradually decays, and little by little, at times, dies while still alive!

In the words of the Lord, who searches our hearts and our inward parts: from within, out of the human heart, come evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an envious eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All this evil comes from within and defiles a person[1].

So what, after this, does the New Year mean for us? It is the mercy and longsuffering of God still continuing toward us, awaiting our amendment, bringing about the salvation of our souls. The New Year is a strong impetus to our repentance and good works. Let us recall the parable of the barren fig tree, which, for bearing no fruit, the Master of the garden wanted to cut down, while the gardener pleaded with Him to leave it another year, to enrich the soil beneath it and to bring forth fruit.

But the last day will come, after which there will be no time, as it is said in the Revelation of St John the Theologian: The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the earth raised his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and all that is on it, the earth and all that is on it, and the sea and all that is in it, that there would be no more time. So there will come a moment when time altogether ceases—and there begins an eternity immeasurable, endless, inconceivable; the alternations of day and night will cease forever, and the dawning of morning and of evening and of the seasons; there will be no more of these gradual successions of winter, spring, summer, and autumn; there will be no more of this beautiful adornment of the earth with greenery, flowers, leaves, and fruits; there will be no births of any kind, neither human nor animal—and the very earth itself, by the word of Divine Scripture, will burn up—and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, an incorruptible heaven and an incorruptible earth, suited to the spiritual works of the future risen people[2]; the sun will go out and vanish—and the Sun that shines upon all, enlightens everything, and gives life to everything will be Christ the Lord Himself, the Sun of Righteousness; there will be no moon and no stars: for all this is temporary, elemental, composite, and therefore not eternal, but subject to corruption.

The kingdom of vanity, and of sin and of all unrighteousness, will at last come to an end; in the new homeland all sorrows, sicknesses, griefs and sighings will flee away, and not even a memory of them will remain; there will come the kingdom of love, righteousness, unshakable peace, joy and eternal gladness; there will be no more of this medley of peoples, tribes and tongues; there will be one people of God with one wondrous spiritual language, intelligible to all—angelic or human; all will be as one people, as children of a single family, which will have one Father, God. And this eternity, foreordained by the Creator from the beginning, before heaven and earth came to be, will come soon, by the unfailing word of the Creator Himself: See, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to each according to his works[3]. For this eternity, for this future endless life and blessedness, the all-good Lord created man and the human race—and if we hoped in Christ only for this age and had no thought of the future endless life, in which everlasting righteousness and holiness take up their dwelling, we would be still more wretched, more ill-fated than all other people, enduring here countless sicknesses and sorrows and a thousand kinds of death of every sort, and having no recompense for all that we suffer for the sake of righteousness, for the sake of Christ.

So then, there will be a blessed and eternal recompense for all the good deeds and struggles of this present life, performed in faith and hope in our Leader of the Faith and Perfecter, Jesus Christ; and He will wipe away every tear from the eyes of those who wept here for the sake of His righteousness, and the wretched and the righteous will find comfort on God’s knees, as the Prophet says, and their joy will have no end[4], while unrepentant sinners will be in eternal torment; every human unrighteousness that is not wiped away and not set right by repentance and virtue will receive its righteous recompense. Do not deceive yourselves: God is not to be mocked[5]; for what a man sows here, he will also reap there, in eternity, says the unfailing Word of God.

So then, brothers and sisters, prepare yourselves without delay for eternity—by repentance and good deeds. Soon there will be no more time, and the time for amendment and for the struggles of faith and virtue will be taken away.

Let us then repent, amend ourselves, and bring to the Lord the fruits of good deeds. Then the year that has come will truly be a new year, because it will bring us the renewal of our whole being—soul and body. Then, though our outward man wastes away in sicknesses and sorrows, the inward man, the hidden man of the heart, will be renewed day by day, as was the case with the apostle Paul. Amen.